Wednesday, July 10, 2013

I don't know I feel

I found out yesterday that my ENT, Ronald Kirschner, had
passed away. It’s strange when someone like that dies, because no one –
including me – knows how to react. I mean, you don’t know your doctor in the
same way you know your sister or your best friend, right? I guess I lied,
because although I did not know the
appropriate reaction, I felt it anyway.

I came under his care back in 2003 when I was slowly losing the
hearing in my right ear. It was a scary time, made even more frightening when
he said surgery was the only sure way to clear it up, and even that might not
restore the hearing loss but simply arrest it. Since my GP had strongly recommended Kirschner
I agreed to the surgery, and now I am glad I did. Everything went swimmingly,
and I felt as though the care I received was top-notch. Within six months my
hearing had fully returned, which took the experience from great to amazing.

I saw Dr. Kirschner regularly over the ten years because, in
addition to that hearing loss thing, I have a recurring earwax problem that he’d
take care of. (Very pretty, right?) I always looked forward to the visits,
because this guy had a really interesting life. I remember seeing on his office
wall a black-and-white photo of him in a military uniform cutting a giant sheet
cake with a sabre. I asked him about it and he told me that was taken when he
was in the Navy and had received some award or another and there was a ceremony involving cake. Being who I am, I
naturally asked if the cake had been good, and he screwed up his face in this
hilarious expression of distaste and said, “No, it was terrible! But because
the admiral was there I had to eat it.”

He had this amazing life I found out about in small increments, spread over years. In another visit I found out that Kirschner had tended
patients far more noteworthy than I. As I found out, the President of the United
States receives care from Navy doctors, and sure enough, one of them was Ronald
Kirschner. He worked with both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and he had
great stories about both. Apparently, Nixon was nicer; Johnson refused to leave
the White House for his appointments so Kirscher would have to have his entire
office relocated to a basement room under the Oval Office for the brief time he’d
see the Big Guy. “All that for ten minutes!” Kirschner told me, shaking his
head.

Dr. Kirschner was a great traveler, and whenever he heard I
was going someplace he’d offer tips on where to eat and what to do, and when I
got back he’d ask what I thought. He was also delighted that I coauthored a
book, and he’d ply me with questions about novel-writing, the publishing
industry, etc. His interest was always genuine, and how many people you see a
few times a year actually care about what you’re doing?

I really came to enjoy those chats, and now that they are
over I feel as though there’s this little void in my life where they used to fit.
I’m going to miss hearing about a life that’s now over but was fully lived. I
don’t know if that’s an inappropriate
response, but I feel the loss. And
that’s enough for me.

2 Comments:

Dr. Ronald Kirschner was also my doctor, I just found out the news a few hours ago and I was devastated. He has been my ENT for over 5 years and helped to keep my asthma and allergies under control. I was always close to Dr. Kirshcner and called him "grand pop pop" and I always mentally prepared myself to be yelled before a visit because I knew I hadn't taken my medicine and he could tell just by looking at me. He also always had a story from his extremely successful career and even knew the best places to eat throughout the city. I could talk to him for hours because he always had something insightful to say. He was a phenomenal doctor and an even greater person. He will truly be missed.

Dr. Kirschner was my father. Finding and reading this blog entry has meant so much to me and my family. Knowing the role he played in so many lives, people we knew and people we didn't know. Thank you.